October 6, 2017

More than 20 years after social assistance in Ontario was dramatically slashed, support for people living in poverty still hasn’t caught up.

Earlier this month Ontario boosted Ontario Works by two per cent, upping the amount for a single person receiving the benefit to $721 a month, said Karen Mathewson, with Community Legal Assistance Sarnia.

In 1995 it was $754, she said.

“That’s nowhere near what somebody needs to be able to afford nutritious food and put a roof over their head,” she said, crediting the provincial government for the increase and others over the years, but stressing it’s not enough.